


Extra-ordinary

by Multifandom_damnation



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Dysfunctional Family, Family Dynamics, Gen, Good Sister Allison Hargreeves, Minor Original Character(s), Orchestra, Sibling Love, Team as Family, Touch-Starved, Trust Issues, Vanya Hargreeves Deserves Better, Vanya Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Violins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2019-06-10
Packaged: 2020-04-23 19:58:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19157932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Multifandom_damnation/pseuds/Multifandom_damnation
Summary: Vanya has spent her whole life wishing that she was special like her siblings, that she could do what they did, so she could be extraordinary. Now she has these powers that she's learning to master, but her violin has always been her heart and soul, and performing on the stage has always been her happy place.And thanks to a surprise arrival by her siblings, maybe, she learns that being extraordinary and extra-ordinary are two of the same coin. She is more than one person.She is The White Violin and Vanya Hargreeves. Extraordinary and extra-ordinary. And she is proud of that.





	Extra-ordinary

**Author's Note:**

> I was away in Ballarat for the long weekend and I didn't have wifi so I wasn't able to go back and watch any scenes to refresh my memory of their dialogue, so I'm not too happy with how I wrote Klaus and the others (mostly Klaus) but I tried my best. AND YES I KNOW EXTRA-ORDINARY ISN'T A REAL WORD BUT I THOUGHT IT MADE SENSE AND WORKED WITH THE NARRATIVE SO IF IT REALLY BOTHERS YOU THAT MUCH just let me know and I'll change it. It's just a short little thing that I whipped up in an hour, but I hope you like it all the same.
> 
> (Also, I just found this video and it doesn't really have anything to do with the fic and I didn't make it, but I think it's pretty cool and worth a watch if you want to check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43QF7WmNqGU)

As Vanya made her way towards the theatre as quickly as she could, she almost bumped into the new guy on cello while she was looking down at the messages on her phone, the one she sent to Allison asking if she was coming to the recital. Allison still hadn’t replied. “Oh gosh, I’m sorry…” Vanya apologised pathetically as she tried to help him pick up his papers.

“George,” he supplied when she trailed off, and she shook his hand when it was offered with a shy smile. “I’m new, I wouldn’t expect everyone to know my name. You’re… Vanya, right? I’ve heard a lot about you from the conductor. Apparently, you’re one of his best.”

“Oh,” Vanya blinked, surprised. She slid her phone in her pocket, Allison momentarily forgotten. “I didn’t know that. That’s uh, that’s very kind of him.” She would be lying if she said that she wasn’t a little wary of the chance encounter and this stranger’s kindness- she’s had bad experiences with nice men in the past. “When did he have the chance to tell you all that?”

Shrugging, George hefted his cello more comfortably on his shoulders. “The other night after practice, I stayed back to ask him a bit about everyone, being the new guy and all. I thought it would help me get to know everyone before dinner next week. He also said that you had a pretty big family. Are they coming tonight?”

“Um,” Vanya began lamely, her phone burning a hole in her pocket and her one-sided conversation with her sister and the lack of reply that was a painful thing to think about. “No, I don’t think they’ll be able to make it.”

“Huh,” George frowned. “That’s a shame. You’d think with how many of them there are at least one would be able to make it.” Suddenly, his frown was replaced with a smile that was almost too wide to be genuine and Vanya wanted to shrink away from his unexpected kindness. “But that doesn’t matter! I’m sure you’ll be great, apparently, you always are.”

Vanya smiled, though it wasn’t as big as she hoped it would be. “Thank you. That’s very kind, considering you’ve never actually seen me play. I’m not that amazing on stage as you seem to think.”

Smiling, George patted Vanya on the shoulder and she tried very hard not to flinch away from the contact. “No worries- I’m sure I’ll get a chance to see it in person tonight. Well- we’d better get going. We don’t want to be late.” He laughed before rushing past her and calling over his shoulder, “I’ll see you later!”

In the aftermath of the conversation, Vanya was left confused and alone on the footpath beside the building, a hurricane of confusion and heartache pounding in her head. Almost desperately, she slid her hand back into her pocket and pulled out her phone silently hoping, no _begging_ , that Allison had replied, or one of her siblings had heard about it and wished her luck, that some sort of blessing had befallen her and Klaus or Diego were asking where the entrance was because they heard about it on the news and wanted to surprise her.

Her phone was unsurprisingly, disappointingly, blank.

The music hall was beginning to stack full with people, the comforting bustle of parents quieting down their reluctant children, viewers trying to find their seats, elderly couples holding onto each other’s arms and whispering loving words into their ears with a smile on her lips, the other musicians setting up their stations for the performance. Vanya held a new appreciation for all the sounds of the theatre that weren’t just the notes of her violin and the orchestra, but the shuffling and excitement and anticipation of people preparing for the show. Now that she could actually hear it, with her medication discarded.

There was still a row of seats in the back corner that was yet to be filled, which Vanya thought was odd. She was late to the theatre, and the performance was said to be sold out, so if they hadn’t arrived this close to the start, then Vanya doubted that they were going to come at all. It was a shame, really- all that money wasted on something you never intended on seeing.

As Vanya sat down to set up her station, she thought about the last time she was performing in a theatre, and how quickly everything had gone to shit.

She had seen Allison and the fact that she had come even after everything Vanya had done to the family had made her so happy that Vanya hadn’t been able to think of anything else. Not even Luther and Five and Diego approaching her like she was a feral animal they needed to cage. Her body had shuddered and her eyes had blurred and suddenly the moon was in shatters and meteors were falling towards the earth and the world was on fire and everyone was talking about _her_ being the cause of the very apocalypse they had tried to stop.

So maybe, in a twisted, nonsensical way, it was a good thing that Allison hadn’t shown up. Nothing good ever happened when she did.

The conductor strolled onto the stage just as Vanya had comfortably sat down and the whole theatre hushed as he raised his baton and the orchestra began to play.

Percussion started slow and steady and gave way for the brass sections to join in while the double bases and cellos began a slow crescendo. The second violins followed with their natural progression to conjoin with the other string instruments, and when it was their time, Vanya led the first violinists into a crescendo that seemed to last a lifetime.

Vanya had always loved music, long before she discovered that her previously unknown powers were connected to sound, and now that she was no longer constantly ingesting her fathers prescribed emotion dampeners, she was able to genuinely enjoy the way music made her feel and how the vibration from the stings against her throat made her feel alive, and she closed her eyes as she played to let the emotion and the music flow through her.

She knew her parts by heart, knew her cues and her sections and her solos like she knew her own heartbeat. Now that she had access to the powers she had once thought were non-existent, memorizing the music came much quicker and easier than it ever had before after only a couple of plays. She enjoyed just letting the music flow through her until it was the only thing she could feel.

With a reluctant sigh, she opened her eyes to watch the conductor’s baton, despite not really needing to, and she caught George’s eye from the other end of the room and he winked at her before tilting his head towards the proscenium with a smile before turning back to his cello with his head down, but he still seemed to be looking at her from under his eyelashes.

When Vanya turned her head, entirely confused, she saw that the previously empty row of seats was now filled with a wide array of people, all wearing very familiar faces.

Luther took up two whole seats, his shoulders hunched in an attempt to make the viewing experience bearable for the people behind him, but he was watching Vanya with a kind of intensity that she wasn’t used to. Five sat beside him, quietly watching Vanya with stoic pleasure, the way she would expect him to appreciate fine music. Allison wore a large, proud smile on her face, tears shining in her eyes as she clasped her hands at her chest, the thin healing scar bright against her neck apparently wasn’t important enough to be covered up for the occasion. Diego had one arm slung behind Klaus’s chair and his eyes scanned the theatre and occasionally resting on Vanya for a while until he pretended not to be looking and glanced hastily away. Klaus, dressed in his usual way with too many bright, garish colours and crazy combinations, was waving a crudely drawn flag with Vanya’s name on it and looked like it was only the threat of Diego sitting beside him that stopped him from standing and cheering her name. The seat beside him was empty, but Vanya had a feeling she knew which ghostly brother would be filling it.

Vanya felt like crying. She felt like standing up despite the performance and rushing up those steps to wrap her arms around her sister screaming _“you came! You came!”_ and staying in her warm embrace until she was forced to pull away, but she couldn’t do that. Not when she had a performance to complete. Not when they had come all that way to watch her do the best she could.

But through the rest of the recital, Vanya felt a warm glow in her chest and she wondered if the sparks behind her closed eyelids danced around the room in her joy as well.

When everything was finished and everyone had mostly gone home, Vanya carried her violin towards the exit, only to be smothered in the scratchy, uncomfortable feeling of a feathered boa as Klaus wrapped his arms around her and crushed her to his chest. “Holy fuck!” He said as he hugged her, voice high. “Vanya that was so fucking good! Why didn’t you tell us you were so damn amazing? And who knew that you were so magical even when you weren’t glowing white and blowing up the moon!”

“Klaus,” Diego chided as he grabbed his brother by the shoulder and pulled him away from Vanya. “Chill. You don’t have to be so over the top all the time,” he turned to Vanya and there was something close to a smile on his face. “But seriously- that _was_ pretty fucking good.”

She would have blushed, but then Allison was burying her face in Vanya’s shoulder and Vanya was trying not to suffocate on her sister’s hair. “Oh Vanya, that was perfect. Absolutely perfect.”

“You didn’t tell me you were coming,” Vanya choked out because that’s all she could think of to say. She wasn’t used to such genuine, gentle kindness and was still getting used to contact in general, but everything she could have possibly said had flown from her mind the moment she saw Allison’s smile. “I didn’t think you wanted to come. I thought…”

“Thought what?” Allison laughed, running a light hand down Vanya’s cheek and in a surprise even to herself, Vanya felt herself unconsciously leaning into the touch. “That I didn’t love my sister enough to come and see her recital? I just wanted to surprise you, and I guess I got what I wanted.”

With his hands in his pockets, Five strolled around Vanya like he was trying to figure out where the best parts of her to eat were located, but there was lacking malice in his eyes. “I must be honest with you, but I haven’t really heard music of any kind for a very long time, but nothing I’ve heard since coming back from the apocalypse was as good as you were.”

“Oh,” Vanya blinked, taken aback. “Thank you.” She tentatively turned to Klaus, who was batting Diego’s hand away from trying to rip his boa off his shoulders. “Klaus? Is uh… is Ben here? Was he watching?”

Klaus beamed and Vanya forgot how much she loved and missed her brother's smile. “You know he follows me everywhere. I saved him a seat!” he turned to the side, concentrating for a second, before turning back to Vanya with a slightly smaller but no less honest smile. “He says, and I paraphrase ‘it was the most amazing thing I have ever heard and I forgot how much I missed listening to you practice through the walls back home.’” He paused again and frowned. “No. No, be quiet. Hush!”

Laughing, Vanya closed her eyes and leant back against Allison as her sister threaded her fingers through her hair. “I thought it was good too,” Luther added awkwardly. “We didn’t get classical music on the moon, so I guess I missed it. I’m sure dad would have loved to have been here to watch.”

Almost like they were possessed, all of Vanya’s siblings interrupted at the same time with the same intensity and same absolute seriousness. “No, he wouldn’t.”

Klaus finally wrestled away from Diego’s grabby hands and moved beside Vanya, removing his boa from his neck and twirling it around hers with a flourish. “I guess all this time you’ve always been extraordinary, even without your powers! If we’d known, I doubt we’d have thought of you as we did.” He frowned and glared at empty space, before swatting at the air. “Shut the fuck up Ben, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Diego rolled his eyes and whacked Klaus in the back of the head, who yelped and leapt away. “Anyway, you did really well. I’m impressed.” He rubbed a hand on the back of his neck and looked away. “Really impressed.”

In all the excitement and affection, Vanya hadn’t noticed that she had dropped her violin case on the ground and Five had now unlatched it and was turning it over in his hands, running his fingers over the strings and feeling the weight of it and swishing the bow through the air like a rapier. “This is excellent make, and you’ve done very well with the upkeep. I remember how difficult this thing was to take care of when we were children.”

Allison placed a kiss on Vanya’s hair and raked her nails against her scalp. “See? You are wonderful. The most extraordinary one among us, through and through.”

“Didn’t even need your powers to blow us all away!” Klaus pranced through the alley with a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye.

“I was only playing the violin,” Vanya found herself saying and was slightly confused as to why she was asking it at all but was for some reason unable to get the thought out of her head. “Compared to what all of us can do, it’s just ordinary. Heaps of people can play the violin.”

Five paused in his ministrations to look up at Vanya and catch her eye. “Vanya, I’m not quite sure if you know this, but learning an instrument is an incredibly difficult thing, and anyone who manages to accomplish such a thing should be very proud indeed. And that includes you.”

Diego reached over and clapped Vanya on the shoulder, something so unfamiliar and comforting that Vanya nearly gasped, once she had regained her footing from almost being knocked over by the force of the not-so-gentle blow. But Vanya was only a little thing, and Diego had spent so long fighting and building up his strength in order to do what needed to be done in the dead of night for unsuspecting families that even a gentle blow from him was enough to knock Vanya down. Not as strong as Luther, who was standing awkwardly against the wall, far away from Vanya and the rest of the siblings, head bowed and lips sealed shut as if he were ashamed. Vanya didn’t have the energy to deal with that right now. “It’s a skill, Vanya. Everyone should be proud of their skill, even you. Especially you.”

“But…” Vanya floundered, still almost too shocked to function. “It’s just the violin. It’s ordinary. I’ve always been… ordinary.”

“Well,” Klaus shrugged, shoving Diego out of the way and wrapping his arms around her shoulders and pulling him close to his chest. “That’s alright. Let’s think of it this way then. Number 7, the White Violin is extraordinary. If you want Vanya can just be extra-ordinary. There’s nothing wrong with being ordinary, as long as you know that in your heart and behind closed doors, you are the most badass and awesome mother fucker we’ve ever met.”

Allison glanced over at him and frowned. “You just said extraordinary twice but pronounced it differently. That doesn’t make any sense.”

“No, no,” Vanya said, eyes wide and mouth open, trying to comprehend the information that Klaus was throwing at her. “I get it. Extraordinary. Extra-ordinary. I… I like that.” She glanced up at Klaus with a surprising smile on her face. “Thanks.”

Whooping, Klaus turned to his other side and stuck his tongue out at the wall. “See Ben? I have good advice sometimes; I don’t always sprout bullshit. Alright, ok, that’s enough, shut up now.”

Vanya found herself laughing as they made their way back to her apartment, her family following behind and beside her like a flock of soldiers, and for the first time in a long time found herself genuinely happy and relaxed, something she would never have thought she would be in the gaggle of her family and wondered how she could have lived her life so empty without them.

Maybe being extra-ordinary wasn’t so bad after all.

**Author's Note:**

> As I said, NO WIFI, so if there are any band or musical people reading this, I'm sorry. I don't know how orchestras behave and I looked up a diagram and tried my best I'M SORRY.
> 
> In relation to the extra-ordinary, I think because it's something that Klaus said, it's not that bad. If Five or Luther or Diego had said it, then I might consider changing it. but come on, Klaus has come out with crazier things than that.
> 
> also, LUTHER SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT THE MOON


End file.
